Vehicles having a roofed enclosure defining a passenger compartment extending from the front dash rearwardly to the rear of the vehicle, such as a sport utility vehicle, typically provide glass-covered openings for visibility from within the passenger compartment. Such vehicles have rear axles supporting rotatable tires permitting mobility for the vehicle. The vehicle body is configured with a rear wheel well that lies between the passenger seat and the outer skin of the vehicle. The space required for the rear wheel well limits the storage space available for any side windows to be retractable into the vehicle body. As a result, the rear side glass of such vehicles is typically stationary. In some vehicles, such as a mini-van, the side window glass above the rear wheel well can be slidable in a fore-and aft direction or pivoted to permit the rear of the side window to pop out, thus allowing some opening of the side window positioned over the rear wheel well.
The location of the rear axle and the accommodating wheel wells leaves a limited amount of storage space above the structure of the wheel well and the belt line of the vehicle. The limited storage space is significantly smaller than the size of the window opening above the vehicle belt line. As a result, the conventional rear side windows of such vehicles cannot be retracted into the limited storage area to completely open the side window opening. Although a partial retraction of the side window glass into this limited storage area can be accomplished, partial retraction of the window is undesirable in that part of the window opening remains closed and the partially retracted glass is only partially supported. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a window assembly that would be capable of full retraction to allow the entire rear side window opening to be unobstructed.
By providing structural components that can be moved to re-position the rearward wall of the passenger compartment, a sport utility vehicle that can be converted from a sport utility vehicle configuration, in which the passenger compartment extends fully to the rear of the vehicle, to a pick-up truck configuration, in which the passenger compartment extends only partially rearwardly allowing the rearward area of the chassis to define an open cargo bed. The fore-and-aft movement of the structural components defining the rearward wall of the passenger compartment requires that any side window glass be positioned in a manner that permits the structural components to be moved. Retracting the rear side window glass into the limited storage area above the rear wheel well permits the upper rear wall of the vehicle to be moved forwardly to open the rear portion of the chassis to the atmosphere. Thus, it would be desirable for such a convertible sport utility vehicle to have fully retractable rear side window glass to permit the conversion of the vehicle between a sport utility mode and a pick-up truck mode.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a rear side window assembly that would be retractable into a limited package storage space smaller than the corresponding opening in the vehicle body.